Month: November 2015

this week. We bought this apartment less than a year after we arrived in Amsterdam. I loved that place. It was too small, but it was home. It was the first place we bought and we were so young and so happy when we bought it! Our little haven in Amsterdam. I never really thought we would leave – despite the fact that it was of course going to happen one day.

After years and years there I had finally stopped thinking of the day we would move out – we should keep this box for when we move out; don’t make holes there it will show when we take this off the wall; etc…

I had never stayed so long in the same place, not even when I was a child. So many things we’ve lived there, and now it is sold.

Somebody else owns it. The amazing light, the trees (being cut one by one), the kitchen (too small), the heating system (very good), the “brand new” (at least 5 years old) bathroom we paid for, the balcony, the very nice floor, and all the little quirks we knew about.

It will never be ours again. I’m trying to wrap my head around that fact. I guess I’m just homesick, and I shouldn’t be sentimental about a flat. It’s just a flat. Four walls. Where I felt safe, at home, with so many memories, and where come winter and bad weather I always hibernated on our couch… But we moved house and we changed the couch…

I don’t cook. It’s an accepted fact in our family. I can cook an egg or rice or pasta, but nothing more complex, and even that I usually don’t because my husband prefers nicer/more elaborate foods.

But my husband is away this week. This has always been a problem: I usually eat really badly while he is not there. Except that with my son now I really ought to make an effort.

Home-breaded chicken with vegetables and pasta

So tonight I cooked a bit: home-breaded chicken in small pieces (he loves breaded fish, so I thought, lets try) – first in flour, then in mixed egg, then in breadcrumbs – with pasta and (frozen, lets not push grandma in the nettles as the French say) vegetables. All in all I spent a bit more time on this than on making French toast, which he loves and devours in minutes!

Anyway, he didn’t eat a thing! A piece of bread, a bit of yoghurt, wouldn’t even try the chicken… Even though I know he’s going to be hungry later on. Well, I’ve got some left for tomorrow lunch, we’ll try again 🙂

Since we moved from Amsterdam in October, I haven’t really find subjects to write on. We’ve been emptying boxes, settling in, starting with toddler groups… However, there is one thing that drastically changed since we moved: what I do with my free time.

Source: Jade, flickr.com

My son napping for two to three hours everyday is great, it gives me a lot of free time. Back in Amsterdam, I used it to watch TV, write, or, most of the time, go on Facebook and follow the links you can find there.

Except that, now, most of the Facebook groups I am registered to and the links I receive are about our old life in Amsterdam: the mums’ groups, the expat group, the selling-used-stuff groups, the knitting group, the events and meetings, etc. So I don’t really spend time on Facebook anymore. Same with emails and my usual meet-up and shopping spams: it’s all about Amsterdam – maybe I should clean up, but I don’t dare to yet.

Source: Chase Clark, flickr.comPuff stitch, source: Sere, flickr.com

Instead I sit down on the sofa, put a SF series on, and crochet. Blankets, bags and baskets, and scarves. I’m making gifts and things for the house. I don’t know what I would have done in the last weeks without crochet, especially with the weather we’ve had. It’s keeping me busy in the quiet residential village that we chose and where we don’t really know anyone yet. It’s relaxing, creative AND productive. I buy wool in bulk after the toddler groups we go to or during the knitting&crochet chats, or whenever I can, and everytime I buy wool it feels like Christmas – though I’m going to have to slow down, it’s getting expensive…